butsuden 仏殿
KEY WORD : architecture / buildings & structures
 
Also *daiyuuhouden 大雄宝殿. The main hall of a Zen temple. Butsuden can be classified into three different types.

1 The simplest is 3 x 3 bays and does not have an additional aisle *mokoshi 裳階. Examples include: Fusaiji 普済寺 Butsuden (1357) in Kyoto is 5.75 x 5.75 square, and Ten'onji 天恩寺 Butsuden (1362) in Aichi prefecture is 6.25 x 6.99m.

2 A 3 x 3 bay hall with a mokoshi, which is an additional aisle one bay deep with pent roof and bracket arms *hijiki 肘木, inserted directly into the shafts of the core *moya 母屋, pillars. Examples include: Saionji 最恩寺 Butsuden (mid-14c) in Yamanashi prefecture, including the mokoshi, is 3 x 3 bays, 6.26 x 6.26m. The moya is 1 x 1 bay square. However, on the interior behind the altar there are two pillars *raigoubashira 来迎柱, with a wall *raigoukabe 来迎壁, stretched between them. Kouzanji 功山寺 Butsuden (1320) in Yamaguchi prefecture has a moya that is 3 x 3 bays with a mokoshi added, making it a 5 x 5 bay building as viewed from the exterior. Like the smaller Saionji Butsuden, it has raigoubashira and raigoukabe.

3 Very large butsuden, 5 x 5 bays square with a mokoshi added are known to have been built during the 13c and 14c, but the only extant ones are the large 3 x 3 bay-type surrounded by a mokoshi. Examples include: Sennyuuji 泉涌寺 Butsuden (1669) in Kyoto, which is 17.73 x 15.95m including the mokoshi. The core area has pillars of large diameter all around and a platform with steps on both sides and at the front. Myoushinji 妙心寺 Butsuden (1827) in Kyoto is 17.04 x 17.04m with a usual arrangement of a 3 x 3 bay core except that the pillar at the center rear has been omitted. The mokoshi is 5-bays around the core. Both buildings have raigoubashira and raigoukabe. Many buildings called *hondou 本堂 or named after the main image enshrined are also known as butsuden. Examples: Toukouji 東光寺 Butsuden (1538), also called Toukouji Yakushidou 薬師堂 in Yamanashi prefecture; Daitokuji 大徳寺 Hondou (1665) in Kyoto, also Daitokuji Butsuden.
 

Toukouji Butsuden 東光寺仏殿 (Yamanashi)

 
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